The work of our CEO Liz Parrish features in the latest issue of Harper’s Magazine. As aging is increasingly understood as a tractable, and as Yuval Harari, the author of Sapiens, a Brief History of Humankind insists, a technical problem, scientists and entrepreneurs are addressing one or more of these technical issues in order to halt and even reverse the aging process.

Writes Harper’s Magazine:

“Other forms of genetic rejuvenation are being pursued by BioViva, a Seattle biotech company led by Elizabeth Parrish, 46, a self-described humanitarian, entrepreneur, and innovator. Two years ago, Parrish traveled to Colombia to receive two experimental anti-aging gene therapies: one meant to decrease the depletion of lean muscle mass; the other to increase the length of her telomeres, the end segments of DNA that shorten each time a cell divides. When telomeres reach a certain length, cells no longer divide and eventually die. If they could be extended, the thinking goes, so would the life cycle of the cell, thus prolonging its—and, by extension, our—existence. BioViva wants to make gene therapies like these as common as preventative medicine, Parrish says, and is developing targeted treatments for aging-related degenerative conditions, such as Alzheimer’s, and cosmetic procedures, like skin rejuvenation. “If we can’t regenerate the skin, the largest organ, you’re going to die,” explains Parrish. “People need to understand that this is not aesthetics—this is survival.”

With a wellspring of money into longevity research from tech companies like Google, experts feel confident that in the next five to 10 years, supercharged anti-aging treatments like these will begin to come to market.

- PhD student researching Aging, Mitochondria, and Regenerative Medicine -
I currently write for The Conversation (http://bit.ly/13WVyUW) and I have
written for The Guardian (http://bit.ly/13WVtRh) - Ringleader of the Oxford
University Scientific Society - Co-conspirator at the Oxford Transhumanism
and Emerging Technologies - Designing exciting events with the British
Science Association Oxford - Advisory Board member at Lifeboat Foundation's
Life Extension Board, and the Sustainability Board - Also, I am an Ultimate
(frisbee) enthusiast - Yes, unfortunately that's me trying to catch the
frisbee